Buck-Passing
Institute for Certified Nomadic Illicit Sonic Practices invites the poet Angélica Freitas and the film director Sina Ataeian Dena for an interdisciplinary collective creation.
The project “Buck-Passing” is both a sound-theatre performance and a multimedia installation.
Buck-Passing combines instrumental techniques, refined satire and critical use of chroma keying in order to address the intertwining of Germany and Brazil in producing criminal environmental disasters. It focuses on the crime of Brumadinho, in Minas Gerais, Brazil, where the tailings dam of the Brazilian mining company Vale SA, which was certified by the German TÜV SÜD, burst in January 2019 and was responsible for 272 human deaths and the end of the Paraopeba river.
German inspection and certification company TÜV SÜD is the target of two trials in Germany at this moment for its possible liability for the dam collapse in Brumadinho. The company issued a report attesting to the stability of the construction before the collapse. Since March 2018, TÜV SÜD's Brazilian subsidiary, Bureau de Projetos e Consultoria, has reported problems with dam drainage.
However, its recommendations were largely ignored. In addition, during an inspection, TÜV SÜD employees observed that the dam did not achieve the required stability factors. Instead of refusing to issue a stability declaration, they used new flawed calculation methods to declare the dam safe. TÜV SÜD expressed condolences to the people affected by the disaster, but neither offered any compensation nor did they assume any liability.
This specific ''buck-passing'' will be the starting point for the collective interdisciplinary research and creation: VALE pointed the finger at TÜV SÜD. Vale's employees said they had no responsibility over the entire Córrego do Feijão mine and that they always acted based on safety reports issued by external auditors. In turn, feeling cornered, TÜV SÜD, returned the accusations to the mining company, denouncing fear of losing millionaire contracts and pressure from the mining company's leaders to issue the stability declarations at any cost.
The artists are interested in performing - and intervening into- patterns of attribution of blame, also known in English as “buck-passing”. These are strategies to postpone responsibilities, strategies which aim to make the crimes fall into oblivion, to hinder investigations, to deviate from the essential: the care and protection of human and other-than-human life.
Angélica Freitas: text, performance.
Marina Cyrino: amplified flute.
Matthias Koole: guitar, electronics.
Sina Ataeian Dena: live video editing, video.
Luisa Dória: Poster
Buck-Passing is funded by Musikfonds e.V. by means of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
Concert-Performance:
April 11 & 12
Doors 20u. Performance 20u30.
Morphine Raum.
Entrance: 10 Euros.
Installation:
August 30, 31
September 1, 2
Labor Neunzehn.
Institute for Certified Nomadic Illicit Sonic Practices invites the poet Angélica Freitas and the film director Sina Ataeian Dena for an interdisciplinary collective creation.
The project “Buck-Passing” is both a sound-theatre performance and a multimedia installation.
Buck-Passing combines instrumental techniques, refined satire and critical use of chroma keying in order to address the intertwining of Germany and Brazil in producing criminal environmental disasters. It focuses on the crime of Brumadinho, in Minas Gerais, Brazil, where the tailings dam of the Brazilian mining company Vale SA, which was certified by the German TÜV SÜD, burst in January 2019 and was responsible for 272 human deaths and the end of the Paraopeba river.
German inspection and certification company TÜV SÜD is the target of two trials in Germany at this moment for its possible liability for the dam collapse in Brumadinho. The company issued a report attesting to the stability of the construction before the collapse. Since March 2018, TÜV SÜD's Brazilian subsidiary, Bureau de Projetos e Consultoria, has reported problems with dam drainage.
However, its recommendations were largely ignored. In addition, during an inspection, TÜV SÜD employees observed that the dam did not achieve the required stability factors. Instead of refusing to issue a stability declaration, they used new flawed calculation methods to declare the dam safe. TÜV SÜD expressed condolences to the people affected by the disaster, but neither offered any compensation nor did they assume any liability.
This specific ''buck-passing'' will be the starting point for the collective interdisciplinary research and creation: VALE pointed the finger at TÜV SÜD. Vale's employees said they had no responsibility over the entire Córrego do Feijão mine and that they always acted based on safety reports issued by external auditors. In turn, feeling cornered, TÜV SÜD, returned the accusations to the mining company, denouncing fear of losing millionaire contracts and pressure from the mining company's leaders to issue the stability declarations at any cost.
The artists are interested in performing - and intervening into- patterns of attribution of blame, also known in English as “buck-passing”. These are strategies to postpone responsibilities, strategies which aim to make the crimes fall into oblivion, to hinder investigations, to deviate from the essential: the care and protection of human and other-than-human life.
Angélica Freitas: text, performance.
Marina Cyrino: amplified flute.
Matthias Koole: guitar, electronics.
Sina Ataeian Dena: live video editing, video.
Luisa Dória: Poster
Buck-Passing is funded by Musikfonds e.V. by means of the Federal Government Commissioner for Culture and the Media.
Concert-Performance:
April 11 & 12
Doors 20u. Performance 20u30.
Morphine Raum.
Entrance: 10 Euros.
Installation:
August 30, 31
September 1, 2
Labor Neunzehn.
